


what the water gave me

by BansheeLydia



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alpha Laura Hale, Alternate Universe, F/M, Fluff, Light Angst, Magical Stiles Stilinski, Mates, Mermaid Stiles Stilinski, Merpeople, Mild Sexual Content
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-04
Updated: 2017-04-04
Packaged: 2018-10-14 20:40:50
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 815
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10544016
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BansheeLydia/pseuds/BansheeLydia
Summary: Someday, someday soon, one of them will have to make a choice.  He’ll choose to leave his tail and his pod and the ocean behind to join her permanently on land.  Or she’ll choose to leave her pack and human legs behind to join him in the sea.  Either way, one of them would lose so much so they could be together.





	

It’s a full moon.

Stiles gazes up at the clear sky, the rock cool and wet beneath his back. He’s far away from his pod, but the quiet is comforting; just him and the dark sky and the soft, soothing _whoosh_ of waves lapping at the rock. He dips his tail in the water, resting his hands on his belly so he can feel each breath, can see it in white plumes above his lips when he exhales.

He’s just starting to doze off when the scent of wolf fills his nose. His claws and fangs slide free out of habit, even though it’s a scent he recognizes. 

She hasn’t made a single noise. She never does. Stiles sits up, resting his weight on his hands as he turns slightly to look at the wolf stood several feet away. His eyesight is better than humans’, but even he can barely make her out from the trees and the darkness. He can just see red eyes fixed on him. 

She creeps closer, away from the trees fringing the small shore and closer to the rocks. As he watches, she changes, black fur rippling into tanned skin, four legs smoothly transitioning into two without slowing her steps towards him. The redness of her eyes doesn’t change, reflecting back at him under the moonlight, the exact same shade as the scales on his tail.

Like him, she doesn’t care about her own nudity. She sits down, crossing her legs beneath her. 

Stiles smiles, heart beating faster. “I missed you.”

Laura reaches out to cup his face. “I missed you too.”

It’s been weeks since he last saw her. There’s a scar across her throat, faded but still there, which means it must have been inflicted by another alpha. He frowns, dragging his thumb lightly over it. 

“We had some trouble,” she says dryly. “But it’s okay. I handled it.”

Stiles grins. “Of course you did.”

Her mouth tips up into the smirk that never fails to make his heart pound and she leans forward, capturing his lips in a kiss. He settles a hand on her hip, closing his eyes as he kisses her back. Her lips are dry and slightly cracked, warm against his own. His own body temperature is naturally quite cool, but as a werewolf, she runs hot, and the heat of her skin pressing against his own makes him shiver slightly.

“I can help,” he says when they pull apart. “I know you don’t need it, but I’d like to. My magic works just as well on land, you know.”

Her fingers find his. “I know.”

They settle into silence. Laura tips her head back to look up at the moon, closing her eyes with a soft smile on her face. Her dark hair tumbles down her back, long enough to brush slightly against Stiles’ skin when he rests a hand on the small of her back. 

“I love you.”

It’s the first time he’s said the words aloud, though he suspects Laura already knows. Not much gets past a werewolf, especially an alpha. She turns her head slightly, the red gone from her eyes, replaced by hazel as she gazes at him. 

He doesn’t expect her to say it back, but she does, quiet but strong as she brushes the words against his lips. Stiles pulls his tail from the water, lets their lips and noses touch as magic tingles through him. She’d told him once, only a few weeks after they first met, that she likes watching him practice magic, likes the way the tattoos on his torso and arms shine, likes the way his eyes shimmer brilliant gold.

“Like a werewolf,” she’d smiled, eyes glowing red back at him. “But better.”

She watches him now, expression so soft and open that it makes his heart ache. His tail ripples away, replaced by human legs. Laura smiles, fingertips resting on his thigh as she kisses him again.

She rides him there on the rock, water kissing at their skin, her face tipped to the moon as she comes. He holds her after, their feet dancing lightly in the water and her head resting on his chest, hair ticking his skin as they look out at the water, watching the moonlight dapple the waves with silver.

Someday, someday soon, one of them will have to make a choice. He’ll choose to leave his tail and his pod and the ocean behind to join her permanently on land. Or she’ll choose to leave her pack and human legs behind to join him in the sea. Either way, one of them would lose so much so they could be together.

They don’t talk about it now. Instead, Stiles strokes his fingertips up and down Laura’s spine as she drifts asleep, letting moonlight swathe them and the gentle caress of the water lull him to sleep.

**Author's Note:**

> written for day 3 of the shipping with stiles week over at shippingwithstiles.tumblr.com
> 
> I'm currently accepting prompts at allirica.tumblr.com :)


End file.
